


Ahsoka and Her Crew

by Merfilly



Series: Ahsoka's Nightmare [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 12:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7802452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ahsoka found them, tempered them, and let herself know them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ahsoka and Her Crew

Fulcrum had found herself a crew that consisted of a Wookiee navigator, Korraaca, Twi'lek pilot, Trines'satai and a pair of brothers from some human Mid Rim world, Jaynus and Merlav, who served as slicer and muscle.

Ahsoka had recruited them personally during her first year, getting to know their passions and need for vengeance against the Empire. She had tempered them, trained them, guided them into becoming what she needed out of an extrication and intel-gathering team.

"Korraaca, we're going to need you on this run," Ahsoka said, plotting out the path they would need. "We get in, we get out, fast. That means less subtlety this time, more speed. We're going to breach within a hundred meters of the target at the same time the distress signal goes out from their flag ship. We've learned, Imps don't handle two-sided attacks well.

"Jaynus, suppress their alarms about the breach as long as you can, but I also need you to work on unlocking the cell with the target in it. Merlav, Korraaca is your partner to keep the corridor clear for me to move. Trines'satai, you will keep the ship hot and ready for evac."

"Yes, milady," the human pair chimed in, over a growling assent from their navigator. Their pilot didn't speak, but his lekku flexed in agreement. 

Like so many other missions, Ahsoka refused to let herself contemplate failure. She had done this many times before, breaking out influential people in order to bring a new system into the Alliance, even if only for covert intelligence and supply assistance. It was a matter of good faith; she gave back something of value for what she needed.

It seethed in her soul that she couldn't convince these systems that unified resistance, in and of itself, was what was needed, but she's never had Obi-Wan Kenobi's gift for words.

That fleeting thought was banished instantly. She had to stay focused.

The distress call went up, and the Imp security facility launched fighters to assist, as Trines'satai brought them to the breach point. Magna-clamps, a bastardized force-field generator, and careful use of explosives got the hole opened. Merlav went first, Ahsoka second, and Korraaca took the rear. Fast work, movement with no speech, and an awareness of the plan got them to the cell and into it in minutes. 

The Tiss'shar they were there to rescue, one of the more rare isk-ar members, looked up groggily, then hastily moved to assist in her own rescue. 

"This is unexpected," the prisoner said through a translating device.

"My people wish friendship with yours; I provide the means, by bringing you home," Ahsoka said. "Now, quickly." She guarded their escape to the ship, a faint prickle of warning cutting into the Force as the last member of her crew was aboard.

What was that pressure, behind the walls in her mind? She raced to the cockpit, where Trines'satai was ready to boost away, her skin itching. Her eyes navigated the display of ships, mostly hostile, as her friends were quickly jumping away from the decoy vessel… and she saw one ship breaking away, headed for them.

"Trin, no time, control to me!" Ahsoka said, slamming into the co-pilot seat. Her pilot was fast to react, shunting primary to her. 

The jump she calculated was one that would skim close to a stellar event, but it would allow her to come out and jump again. She never went into an extrication without a pre-plotted escape jump; she had learned from the fiasco as a padawan that had nearly cost Skyguy his life because of a bad hyperspace jump.

Skyguy… her master… 

Ahsoka punched the jump in, and only started to breathe again when the stars streaked with pseudo-light on the view.

"Milady?"

The Twi'lek's voice pulled her back from the panic that had threatened to override her sensibilities. "That was… an Inquisitor, at the very least, Trines'satai," she said, using the full name to make up for the rudeness of using the short form earlier. "The one that had noticed us."

The pilot made a sympathetic noise. They all knew she was Force sensitive, knew she carried lightsabers, but if they suspected who she was under the robe and scarves, none of them had let on. It was for the best that they only know her as Fulcrum.

The name Ahsoka Tano had to be buried, associated as it was with legends from before the Purge.

+++

It was Ahsoka's habit to let her crew have downtime, for at least a night, after a run against actual Imperial forces. This time was no different, and they set the rendezvous hour before going separate ways, now that the Tiss'shar was safe with her people. 

Ahsoka had gone outside the city, into the wilder spaces, letting bare feet sink into the dirt of this world and connect her to nature for a time. She ran with abandon, timing it to allow herself a nap and time to get back to her ship. It felt freeing, and for a moment in time, she was only herself, only a woman who should be a huntress with a clan to guard and provide for.

Sleeping in a tree was second nature, in this kind of rare freedom, letting the whispers of breezes caress her face where she had shoved the scarves down. Peace… rest…

_PAIN._

Ahsoka's eyes flared open as the lance of stabbing, cutting pain tore apart all of her illusions of safety and freedom. Her gaze streaked back to the city, and in the dim light of the pre-dawn hours, she saw streaks of laser fire from fast, darting ships. Ahsoka wanted to scream defiance, as she realized her jump had been careless, they had been tracked… or the prisoner had been a part of a betrayal.

She had to get to her crew, had to save them, get them to safety, and she flung herself down from the tree to begin the run back. Before she even made it to the outskirts, though, the small pulses of their lives flickered out in her awareness. The brothers were together when they fell to blaster fire, their deaths coming one after the other. Korraaca took a lot more killing, though, pain flicking through her body in phantom mimicry of his wounds.

Trines'satai, however, was the last, and Ahsoka was close enough to the city to have hope. She knew her pilot's habits, that the man would be in a sabaac game, deep in some hole, and might just have been enough out of sight.

That fragile hope exploded as fiery pain ghosted into Ahsoka's awareness, leaving her bitterly aware of the fact the Imperials had to have been hunting her crew… and that meant they would soon be hunting her.

The prudent thing to do would be to go to ground.

Ahsoka Tano rarely did prudent, as she pulled her blasters to her hands, and prepared to pay back the deaths of the crew with at least three Imperials per member.

Vengeance wouldn't bring them back, wouldn't make anything right, but she would feel better for a time.

Behind the walls in her mind, an angry and pain-wracked presence grew a little stronger.


End file.
